More than half a month passed peacefully.
Yuwen Tuo surmised that the time was about right. The negotiations and squabbles between the Holy Spirit Church and the Sun Moon Imperial Family, coupled with Xu Tianran's behind-the-scenes instigation, should have taken this much time.
The Sun Moon Emperor, His Majesty, was probably close to making a decision on the matter.
For this half-month, Qiu'er stayed with the Crimson King in his mansion. Although Qiu'er had enrolled in the Royal Soul Engineer Academy, her purpose for enrolling there was simply to be with Yuwen Tuo.
Now that Yuwen Tuo never attended classes, she had also openly skipped school for half a month.
If the academy had an issue with her, at worst they could expel her; she didn't particularly care.
There was a small incident in between. That day, Wang Shaojie was beaten by Huo Yuhao because of Qiu'er. Of course, he didn't dare to cause trouble at Yuwen Tuo's princely estate, so all his anger could only be vented on Huo Yuhao.
Thus, he found the imperial disciplinary team and had Huo Yuhao imprisoned and severely interrogated.
Fortunately, during this time, Huo Yuhao had become acquainted with Ju Zi. At a critical moment, Ju Zi sought out Xu Tianran to support Huo Yuhao.
However, Ju Zi was also expelled from the academy as a result and officially began to follow Xu Tianran.
Jing Hongchen, to compensate Huo Yuhao, allowed him to enter the Mingde Hall for advanced studies.
This was exactly what Yuwen Tuo wanted. He intended to leverage the luck of this Son of Destiny to obtain certain items from the Mingde Hall.
In this half-month, Yuwen Tuo and Qiu'er cultivated using their fusion power, making surprisingly rapid progress.
Qiu'er, a spirit beast transformed into a human, naturally possessed innate full spirit power, and Yuwen Tuo was even at innate Rank 20.
Coupled with the accelerated progress from their fusion power, their spirit power growth rate was incredibly fast. In just half a month, both of them advanced in rank, reaching Rank 64 and Rank 66 respectively.
At this rate of cultivation, by the next Great Competition, the two might not just be newly advanced Soul Sages; they would likely be mid-to-high-rank Soul Sages.
However, Qiu'er had always wanted to name their fusion power, but names like "Qiu Tuo Power" or "Tuo Qiu Power" didn't sound good, and Yuwen Tuo rejected them all. Wouldn't simply calling it "Martial Soul Fusion Power" be fine?
Yuwen Tuo worried that if he truly called it that, would he inexplicably create something like "Autumn Thoughts Fist," "Autumn Remembrance Sword," or "Tuo Qiu Palm" in the future?
Thinking "Qiu'er, Qiu'er, Qiu'er...!" while fighting.
The thought alone sent shivers down Yuwen Tuo's spine. He would rather die than create such mawkish martial arts.
In the end, Qiu'er could only defer to Yuwen Tuo.
"Imperial edict! To His Royal Highness the Prince, His Majesty has decreed that you are to present yourself at the Imperial Palace for an audience!"
One day, an imperial decree from the palace was suddenly delivered. Yuwen Tuo was already prepared. He received the decree and said to the messenger, "Please wait, Your Majesty. I will proceed to the Imperial Palace after I have tidied up."
"Yes!" The messenger replied and stood at the main gate, waiting.
Yuwen Tuo, feigning having just finished his cultivation, changed his clothes and returned to his room.
He handed two items separately to Nana and Qiu'er.
"Qiu'er, you and Er Ha will stay here and wait for me to pick you up. We will leave Mingdu today. Nana, you are to place this item near the Mingde Hall, then go to the vicinity of the Imperial Palace gate and wait for me to emerge." Yuwen Tuo instructed. "Remember, neither of you can be harmed!"
"Yes, benefactor!" Nana naturally obeyed Yuwen Tuo's every word.
"Tuo, you are the same. You cannot be harmed either." Qiu'er stepped forward to straighten Yuwen Tuo's collar. Ever since their destinies became intertwined, Qiu'er had completely lost the aloofness she had in the original novel, becoming incredibly gentle instead.
Perhaps this was the true nature of a benevolent beast, without the inexplicable interference of others' consciousness.
Nana looked at the two of them, a hint of envy and also a sense of release. Sure enough, these two were truly suited for each other; she was too far behind.
Yuwen Tuo smiled faintly. "Don't worry, every day since I arrived in the Sun Moon Empire, I've been prepared for this. You've just brought this day forward by a few days. I will return safely."
With that, Yuwen Tuo turned and left. He told the messenger waiting at the main gate, "Let's go," and under the messenger's lead, proceeded to the Imperial Palace.
Not long after Yuwen Tuo left, in the shadows of an alley opposite the princely estate, a pair of icy blue eyes appeared. It was a man radiating immense coldness. Several other figures stood before him.
With a slight movement of his mouth, he could exhale terrifying cold air, adding three points of chill to the already dark alley.
"Yuwen Tuo has left. Once he's far away, the plan will commence. We must take the Golden Dragon Saintess today."
"Yes, Second Enshrinement-sama." The people below responded.
This person was none other than the Second Enshrinement of the Holy Spirit Church's Twelve Enshrinements, second only to the Chief Enshrinement Long Xiaoyao.
One must know that even Scorpion Tiger Douluo Zhang Peng, who had already reached the Super Douluo level, was merely the Sixth Enshrinement.
Although this person had not officially appeared in the original novel, his strength was self-evident simply by being four ranks higher than Zhang Peng.
"Enshrinement-sama, another girl has run out."
At this moment, someone pointed at Nana, who was closely following Yuwen Tuo out.
"That one should be Ghost Nana, whom the branch altar originally intended to cultivate before presenting to the main altar.
Although she is also very suitable for our Holy Spirit Church, our target today is not her. What kind of storm can a mere Spirit King stir up if she runs away? Don't create new problems," the Second Enshrinement said.
"Yes!"
Yuwen Tuo followed the messenger to the Imperial Palace. He had been in the Sun Moon Empire for about half a year, but the number of times he had visited the Imperial Palace was truly very few.
Although the Emperor had told him to visit whenever he had time, he was either busy scolding Xu Tianran, dealing with evil Spirit Masters, or cultivating. He had no free time to bother with him.
And this Emperor, whose health was progressively worsening, spent most of his time recuperating. If Yuwen Tuo didn't seek him out, he rarely summoned Yuwen Tuo.
Today, however, was a summons that could not be avoided.
Because Zhongli Wu had sent someone to him some time ago to demand Yuwen Qiu.
And he had stated that as long as Yuwen Qiu was handed over, they would forever forgo pursuing Yuwen Tuo's crimes of destroying a branch altar and killing an elder.
Both sides haggled for half a month, and in the end, both to protect Yuwen Tuo and to appease the Holy Spirit Church's wrath, the Emperor had no choice but to agree.
Therefore, his purpose in summoning Yuwen Tuo today was actually just to get him to leave the princely estate.
Once Yuwen Tuo was gone, the Holy Spirit Church would raid the princely estate, forcefully abducting Yuwen Qiu. By the time he returned, the deed would be done.
Although Yuwen Qiu was Yuwen Tuo's adopted sister and extraordinarily talented, exchanging her for his son's safety and the Holy Spirit Church's temporary docility was, in the eyes of His Imperial Majesty, absolutely worthwhile.
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